Odd Friendship: Valerian considers his and Aleya's frienship to be this. He's an immortal Custodian thousands of years old, Brainwashed to have no strong emotions except absolute loyalty to the Emperor; she's a firebrand Sister of Silence whose nature as a blank means she has trouble with any interpersonal interactions. They make it work anyway. The Custodes have these two distinct groupings for their theology focused the Emperor. and spend countless hours studying, discussing and debating amongst themselves. They are the speculum certus and speculum obscurus. No doubt there will be many White Scars stories to come, both in the Scouring and beyond, but I do like the idea of writing a complete narrative, with a beginning, middle and end, before the baton is passed on to someone else. In Warhammer 40,000, of course, we already have Robbie MacNiven’s brilliant White Scars stories, so I don’t think fans will be short of material. In terms of the Space Wolves, given my schedule, I’m not sure that I’ll be doing any more with them either, although I do have the long-postponed third book in my Warhammer 40,000 trilogy to attend to. (See below…)

Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: While Aleya isn't all that tiny by human standards, she tends to fight alongside Valerian, who, as a Custodian, is almost twice her height. Excellent novel giving a lot of insight into inner working of Empire of Terra, Adeptus Custodes and Sisters of Silence. Custodes and Sisters, two sides of the same coin, trained to fight together against any foe but, following Horus Heresy, separated for thousands of years. Custodes stayed on Terra, living under shadow of their failure to keep the Emperor from harms way and Sisters scattered throughout the galaxy fighting the Chaos but almost got forgotten by the Empire. Sex for Solace: As Days of Blindness wear on, Tieron strikes up a romance with Anna-Murza Jek to cope with the stress. They break it off once the immediate crisis passes.Obstructive Code of Conduct: The Edict of Restraint forbids the Custodes from leaving the Imperial Palace ( at least openly, as Custodes have always been coming and going from the Palace in secret). Tieron's goal in The Emperor's Legion is to have it repealed so that the Legion can be committed to the defense of Cadian Gate. The Speechless: As a Sister of Silence, Aleya has taken a vow to never speak a word. When she has to communicate with others, she does so in Hand Signals, though there are only a few people who can understand it. She lets out a battle cry at the very end of The Emperor's Legion, as she believes she's about to die. The Anthema Psykanna character (Sister of Silence) was the least interesting of the three. Most of her scenes were her fighting daemons and heretics and overall being angry. While that is par for the course in Warhammer, it was less interesting than the perspectives of the Secretary or the Custodian. Praetorian Guard: Though not in a bodyguarding capacity, anybody who's familiar with the Minotaurs knows that it's an open secret that they function as the High Lords' enforcers, doing their dirty work and enforcing their will. Due to the High Lords' influence, the Minotaurs are both incredibly well-equipped for a chapter, even gaining acess to Primaris marines not long after they debuted while most of them were going on crusade with Guilliman, and are given a lot of leeway in how they conduct themselves, even though they have earned a reputation for brutality that can rival the Flesh Tearers and commit outright betrayal of fellow Imperial forces if it means acheiving their strategic goals. note Incidentally, High Lord influence also means their records are sealed off even to the Inquisition. The common chapter disposition and battle tactics are also strikingly similar to that of the Iron Warriors...

The Unfought: Asterion Moloc, the Minotaurs' Chapter Master, is hyped up as an extremely deadly warrior, and his men serve as The Heavies throughout the second book, but despite coming within inches of battling Valerian, the new Master of the Administratum convinces him to leave before the two can come to blows. One word- awesome! This is one of the best books set outside the Horus Heresy. The events of this book are likely some of the most momentous since the Heresy some 10K years ago.The best part is it focuses on some very elite forces rarely seen in the normal stories.And now, thanks to the actions of one man, the forgotten elites of history return to the forefront of a galactic war thousands of years in the making. As Abaddon the Despoiler finally breaks past the Imperial war-girdle at the Cadian Gate, as a massive warp storm ruptures the galaxy in half, as the Aeldari suffer apocalyptic losses and set themselves on a path towards a race-wide spiritual resurrection, it is up to the Custodes and the Silent Sisterhood to keep Terra safe. For should the Throneworld fall and the Emperor with it, then all hope for a bright future for Mankind will end and the Chaos Gods will triumph. Watchers of the Throne is a bold examination of the consequences of Warzone: Fenris and The Gathering Storm. It is balancing act of complementary stories and musings which ultimately provide a framework to understanding what has transpired. Roboute Guilliman makes scant few appearances at the end of the first book and the start of the second before departing to fight a Great Offscreen War, though it's implied he's keeping an eye on things through Valoris. Do not assume the High Lords are administration loving bafoons who govern the Imperium ineffectually. (Ish)